lakshmaNa 33

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Post 33

 

 

 

Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

In the previous 32 posts, we saw 'lakshmaNa' donning 10 roles. The 10th role

as a great warrior is continuing. We are continuing the topic of 'indhrajith

vadham'. LakshmaNa started fighting with indhrajith. When vibheeshaNa felt

lakshmaNa is a bit tiring, he motivated the army lead by hanumaan to fight

effectively. Let us continue from there onwards.

 

 

 

sa dhathvaa thumulam yudhdhham pithruvyasya indhrajith yudhhi | 6-90-27

 

 

 

meaning: that indhrajith gave vibheeshaNa – his uncle - a confusing war [and

continued fighting with lakshmaNa]

 

 

 

*point:* please note, since vibheeshaNa motivated raama's army, indhrajith

then confused his uncle, by doing a war with him – vaalmeeki says 'it is a

confusing war' – 'thumulam yudhdhham'. May be he is also not really

interested in fighting with his uncle, or killing his uncle, but wanted to

show others that he actually fought with uncle, so made a tricky scene that

he fought with him.

 

 

 

*Continuation:* Both lakshmaNa and indhrajith fought fiercely. At one stage

lakshmaNa shot arrows on the horses yoked to the chariot, and killed the

charioteer. In spite of that indhrajith continued running the chariot

himself as well as fighting with lakshmaNa. He was such a great warrior.

Then 4 of vanara leaders killed the 4 horses of that chariot. LakshmaNa

destroyed the chariot also. Since that fight was during nighttime, at that

stage indhrajith motivated his army to make a deception of a fight with the

vaanaraas, so that he could use that darkness. He returned to lanka to bring

a new chariot with driver and horses.

 

 

 

When he arrived back after some time, LakshmaNa and his team were surprised

to see indhrajith on the new chariot. They continued fighting. Since

vaanaraas were almost facing a defeat, they sought refuge in lakshmaNa and

surrendered to lakshmaNa "soumithrim *s*araNam praapthaa prajaapathim iva

prajaa: | 6- 91 –17"

 

 

 

*point:* vaalmeeki describes that as how people surrender to brahmaa, these

vaanaraas surrendered to lakshmaNa. Why suddenly 'brahmaa' is brought into

picture? Why not naaraayaNa or sankara? For brahmaa will grant the boons

easily. And brahmaa cannot really give mOksham – complete liberation. But he

can give good relief with his boons - varams. So these vaanaraas also sought

some relief in that fight - from lakshmaNa – for lakshmaNa may not be able

to eliminate raavaNa. That is why comparison to brahmaa and not to

naaraayaNa. See reaction of lakshmaNa --

 

 

 

thatha: samara kOpEna jwalithO raghunandhana: | 6-91-18.

 

meaning: lakshmaNa was very angry and shone like fire due to that anger.

 

 

 

*Continuation:* Then both fought very valiantly. LakshmaNa, when hit by 3

arrows of indhrajith in the face - lalaatam – his face, was bright and shone

like a hill with 3 crowns or peaks - says vaalmeeki – see slokam -

 

raNa agrE samara *s*laaghee thri *s*runga iva parvatha: | 6- 91-36

 

 

 

Meanwhile indhrajith hit vibheeshaNa. VibheeshaNa also retorted by smashing

the horses of chariot. When indhrajith wanted to hit vibheeshaNa with a

weapon given by yama, with the intention of killing him, lakshmaNa

intervened and smashed that weapon. After that, the two, lakshmaNa and

indhrajith, exchanging asthrams like roudhram, vaaruNam, maahEswaram,

aasuram etc, fought bitterly. Then lakshmaNa set the asthram 'aindhram' on

his bow and said -

 

 

 

dharmaathmaa sathyasandha*s*cha raamO dhaasarathi: yadhi |

 

pourushE cha aprathidhvandhva: *s*ara: Enam jahi raavaNim || 6- 91- 76

 

 

 

meaning: if that raama, son of dhasaratha, is a valiant, dharmaathmaa-

truthful, and lives true to his word, hey asthram, kill that son of raavaNa..

 

 

 

That asthram killed indhrajith by cutting off his neck. Every body including

the dhEvaas and maharshis who have come to the skies for witnessing this war

appreciated lakshmaNa. And the remaining raakshasaas ran helter-skelter to

save their lives. The vaanaraas celebrated lakshmaNa's victory saying -

lakshmaNa: jayathi ithi Evam vaakyam vi*s*raavayamsthadhaa. | 6-91- 99

 

 

 

*Point:* Why suddenly all these qualifications to raama? And why send an

arrow in the name of raama? The answer to these is – lakshmaNa is an amsam

of that vishNu, naaraayaNan as already seen. If these conditions are laid

then that asthram or arrow or weapon becomes a raama asthram or a naaraayaNa

asthram – which never fails. That is why.

 

 

 

*Continuation:* Then all returned back to raama's side from nikumbila.

lakshmaNa bowed down – did praNaamams to raama and informed him of the

success over indhrajith. Raama pulled lakshmaNa and made him sit in his lap..

Since lakshmaNa felt shy, raama pulled him again, made him sit in lap,

embraced and smelt his head. Vaalmeeki's description here is worth enjoying

 

 

 

sa tham *s*irassupaagraaya lakshmaNam lakshmi vardhhanam |

 

lajjamaanam balaath snEhaath ankam aarOpya veeryavaan || 6-92-9

 

 

 

upavEsya tham uthsangE parishvajya avapeeditham |

 

bhraatharam lakshmaNam snigdham puna: puna: udhaikshatha || 6-92-10

 

 

 

*point:* Even though raama is elder and a grown up, lakshmaNa is an younger

brother, who will do all these? Only a person who has fatherly love to the

sibling – not an elder brother. Perhaps embracing may also be ok. Other acts

described here – only who treats his brother as his son, that fatherly

person will only do all these – now you get it?

 

 

 

Kindly recall bhaarathi's description

 

uchchi thanai muganthaal garuvam Ongi vaLarudhadee

 

mechchi unai ooraar pugazhndhaal mEni silirkkudhadee --

 

addressed to that young kaNNan in and as 'child kaNNammaa' in that song

"chinnam chiRu kiLiyE kaNNammaa'

 

raamaa, the father does all that and enjoys his son / brother's achievement..

Oh great description by vaalmeeki.

 

 

 

[in reality if you see, lakshmaNa is younger by two days

 

– punarvasu nakshathrE jaatha: – raama born in punarvasu

 

– aaslEsha jaatha: [or aayilyam] lakshmaNa – that sarpa nakshathram –

lakshmaNa born in aayilyam – two days after -

 

– but that 2 days younger lakshmaNa has become a son to raama – in

treatment - puthra vaathsalyam - raama showering love towards his brother

like a father – lakshmaNa also reciprocating his love and respects due to a

father and not an elder brother]

 

 

 

Why I bring this to notice is- this is that kind of love and affection

missing slowly in the real life - because of the reduction in joint family

system and large scale emergence of nucleus families.

 

 

 

*Continuation:* Raama appreciated vibheeshaNa and hanumaan also, saying a

great work was accomplished in that war with indhrajith, and now his success

is more or less assured. [re 6-92 17] Then sushEna the doctor was directed

by raama to treat lakshmaNa, vibheeshaNa, hanumaan and all others.

 

 

 

On the otherside raavaNa was so much sorrowful that the sorrow lead him into

enormous anger. –6-93-16 Since seethaa was the source for all these troubles

and resulting in this anger raavaNa wanted to kill her. 6-92-34. His son did

killing of maaya seethaa but raavaNa wanted to do on the original seethaa

herself – 6-92- 36,37].

 

 

 

Seeing him approaching seethaa wept saying, "I missed that opportunity and

declined those words of great hanumaan -

 

yadhi aham thasya prushtEna thadhaa yaayaam anindhithaa |

 

na adhya Evam anusOcha iyam bharthu: ankagathaa sathi || 6-92 –58

 

 

 

meaning: 'I should have gone by climbing on the back of him [hanumaan]

without hesitation so that today I need not suffer – I would have been happy

with my husband'.

 

 

 

At that stage raavaNan was advised by his minister supaarsvan – why do you

want to resort to a sthree vadhai – killing of a lady – start on krishNa

paksha chathurdhasee and ensure success on the amaavaasya day. [that slokam

we have seen already].

 

 

 

*Point:* though this weeping of seethaa and ravaNa's anger etc could have

been skipped in the topic of lakshmaNa – but in the process that late

'regret' of seethaa will also be missed. That is why I covered that.

 

 

 

*Continuation:* But raavaNa sent his army of commandos – to do that moola

bala yudhdham – on that chathurdhasee day. Since morning the war went on

says vaalmeeki – 6-94-9. The sainyam – army saw so many raamaas at the same

time and also only one raama - simultaneously.

 

See slokam 6-94-27.

 

thE thu raama sahasraaNi raNE pa*s*yanthi raakshasaa |

 

puna: pa*s*yanthi kaakuthsthham Ekam Eva mahaahavE ||

 

 

 

[dear readers, is this not similar to each gOpee seeing one krishNa with her

and simultaneously only one krishNa in the center in that great raasa leelaa

in sreemadh bhaagavatham. – may be this is a forerunner or a curtain raiser

of what is going to come in the next avathaaram – or can take the second one

as a repetition of this. Also ref that 'raama baaNa thraaNa' – savEri krithi

of thyaagaraaja in this context – in that article of MGV].

 

 

 

In one muhoortham all the commandos failed at the hands of raama – similar

to that khara vadham earlier. Then raavaNa came with his deputies – another

virupaaksha, maha udhara mahaa parsvan et al. One by one they all failed and

got killed by sugreevan angadhan et al. Finally raavaNa himself came to the

forefront and started fighting. LakshmaNa hit him first –

 

 

 

tham ichchan prathamam yOdhdhhum lakshmaNO ni*s*aithi sarai: | 6-100-18

 

 

 

but raavaNa skipped him and went to raama

 

 

 

abhyathikramya soumithrim raavaNa samithinjaya: | 6-100-21

 

 

 

Then both raama and raavaNa fought a fierce battle. At one stage lakshmaNa

reentered the arena –and started hitting raavaNa –

 

EkasminnantharE krudhdhO raaghavasya anujO balee |

 

lakshmaNa: saayakaansaptha jagraaha paraveerahaa || 6-101 –13

 

 

 

LakshmaNa could cut raavaNa's two heads into pieces, and also killed the

charioteer – raavaNa's driver of the chariot – 6-101–14,15. Also lakshmaNa

destroyed the bow of raavaNa. Since vibheeshaNa was standing by side of

lakshmaNa, raavaNa sent a weapon to hit him. To save vibheeshaNa, lakshmaNa

hit that weapon with his arrows.

 

 

 

Since vibheeshaNa was saved raavaNa got wild and sent another weapon to kill

lakshmaNa [sakthi aayudham – second time against lakshmaNa]. When raama saw

that weapon coming he commanded that weapon 'you become wasted in energy and

let safety betide lakshmaNa' –

 

 

 

svasthi asthu lakshmaNaaya ithi mOghaa bhava hatha udhyamaa | - 6-101-34

 

 

 

LakshmaNa fell down hit by that weapon having a wounded chest. Raama pulled

out that weapon from lakshmaNa's body but during that pulling being done by

raama also raavaNa hit raama.

 

So raama advised hanumaan and sugreeva to safeguard lakshmaNa and continued

fighting with raavaNa. After some fighting raavaNa retreated. 6-101-65. [

vaalmeeki did not say the day ended at this stage or fighting stopped]

 

 

 

Raama returned to the place where lakshmaNa was lying and started weeping

saying

 

dhE*s*E dhE*s*E kaLathraaNi dhE*s*E dhE*s*E baandhhavaa: |

 

tham thu dhE*s*am na pa*s*yaami yathra bhraathaa sahOdhara: || 6-102 -12

 

meaning: in each country I can get a wife and relative, but not a country

where I can get a brother like lakshmaNa – who never ever leaves me in times

of distess.

 

 

 

Again the doctor sushEna sent hanumaan to that 'Oshadhi mountain' in

himaalayaas and got the herbs to cure lakshmaNa – for the second time.

LakshmaNa came back to normal life because of the treatment.

 

 

 

When lakshmaNa got himself back on heels, he said to raama – "before the

dusk today, I seek the death of raavaNa by you, if you desire the death of

raavaNa as well you have the love on that queen" – see slokam

 

yadhi thava raaja nara aathmajaa abhilaasha: kuru cha

 

vachO mama seeghram adhya veera: || 6- 102 -54

 

 

 

The war between raama and raavaNa then took up the fierce course – sage

agasthya came done that aadhithya hrudhaya upadhEsam – raama fought and

finally killed raavaNa. The description of that war between raama and

raavaNa in length here is not necessary as we are concentrating on lakshmaNa

and his contribution. But only one slokam I would like to include –

 

 

 

naivam raathram na dhivasam na muhoortham na cha kshaNam |

 

raamaraavaNayOr yudhdhham viraamam upagachchhathi || 6-109- 39

 

 

 

meaning: the war between raama and raavaNa did stop or took rest neither for

a second, nor a muhoortham nor in day nor in night.

 

 

 

*Point:* so this gives a clue that on that chathurdhasee day the moola balam

was sent, in one and a half hours time the whole moola bala army was

destroyed so raavaNa is forced to come out on that chathurdhasee day itself,

and continued – may be towards the evening lakshmaNa was hit and hanumaan

went came back and all that – on the amaavaasya morning lakshmaNa talked

about that matter in 54th slokam above, and before that dusk of amaavaasya

raavaNaa's story is over. Just see otherwise why lakshmaNa should talk about

the dusk, and why vaalmeeki should describe about night - raathrim, daytime-

dhivasam etc.

 

 

 

Similarly in that lakshmaNa's statement – note the word – raaja nara

aathmajaa – raajaa is king janaka – then why nara aathmajaa – she got just a

nara roopam – human form – that ayOnijaa – taken a human form – is it a

reminder indirectly – to raama – timely reminder appears so. I invite

comments on this.

 

 

 

With that the great warrior role of lakshmaNa is completed. We have already

seen that at different times the role was either taken by himself or

assigned by raama. The benefit what lakshmaNa got from this role is I can

even get a wife but not a brother like lakshmaNa – that statement from raama

– such a high position and recognition. Of course seethaa is irreplaceable

but raama says so. And that statement of his is also fulfilled in his next

avathaaram - he got 'dhE*s*E dhE*s*E kalathram in his next avathaaram. So

raama's statements are never a waste.

 

 

 

Dhasan

 

 

 

 

--

Vasudevan MG